Preconditioning

The process of using preconditioning to induce caving was patented by the CSIRO team way back in 1998 (AU1835299A) . Today preconditioning is the accepted method for preparing sublevel and block level caves. Please reach out to the team if you would like to discuss preconditioning and hydraulic fracturing in mining.

Since then we have provided hundreds of millions of dollars of improved productivity and additional safety benefits and have completed numerous preconditioning trials for inducing caving, seismic mitigation, rock burst prevention among other applications.

Improved techniques in monitoring and simulation allows today’s preconditioning to have more control with better targeted, more accurate and improved planning. 

We have expertise in all aspects of preconditioning including but not limited to;

• Planning trials
• Running multi-year operations 
• Training clients to transfer preconditioning skills
• Providing documentation and information on pumping / other equipment requirements
• Monitoring of precondition injections and evaluating performance
• Simulation of expected failure mechanisms

Closely spaced fractures are an important part of preconditioning in mining. Ensuring fractures are parallel for the intended fracture length are vital in a successful program. CSIRO has many analytical tools, modelling extertise, laboratory and field experience in ensuring fractures are closely spaced, but do not interact. If interaction does occur it often leads to unnecessary injection, wasted costs and less optimised project outcomes. See some of the lab based closely spaced hydraulic fractured research here.

Recent Preconditioning/Field Injections